South Africa vs England, 2019-20: 3rd Test, Day 2 – Stokes' milestone, Pope's record ton, Maharaj's hardwork with the ball and more stats

England holds the advantage in the 3rd Test against South Africa as they posted a big first-innings total and picked up a couple of wickets before stumps. Ben Stokes (120) and Ollie Pope (135*) shared a 203-run partnership for the 5th wicket by scoring hundreds. England declared on 499/6 with help of cameos from Sam Curran (44 of 50) and Mark Wood (42 off 23). Dominic Bess’ double strike after a 50-run opening stand left South Africa 60/2 at the end of day 2.

All the statistical highlights from the 2nd day of the Port Elizabeth Test which was dominated by England:

A rare double for Stokes:

4026 – Ben Stokes completed 4000 runs in Test cricket when he was on 94. He thus became only the 7th player with 4000+ runs and 100+ wickets in this format. Among England players, only Sir Ian Botham has achieved this all-round double before Stokes.

A rare 400+ total for England:

2017 – The last instance of England posting 400+ total in their first innings of a Test while batting first was back in the 2017/18 Ashes Test series. England made 403/10 in their first innings of the Perth Test after being put into bat. Between these two matches, they batted first in 17 Test matches where their highest total was only 353.

A record hundred by Pope:

22y 14d – Ollie Pope became the youngest England player to score a Test century on South African soil. John Edrich was 22 years and 342 days when the 1939 Durban Test began where Edrich scored 219 in the 4th innings.

2 – Ollie Pope is only the 2nd youngest England player with a Test century in more than 40 years. Sir Alastair Cook is the youngest Test centurion for England in this span as he struck four Test tons before turning 22.

Maharaj toils hard:

180 – The 180 runs conceded by Keshav Maharaj are the most by a South African in a home Test inning. Kagiso Rabada’s 175 runs during the first innings of the 2016 Cape Town Test were the previous most. Maharaj’s 180 runs are the 3rd most conceded by any bowler in an inning on South African soil behind Saqlain Mushtaq’s 237 in 2003 Cape Town Test and Nathan Lyon’s 182 runs in 2018 Johannesburg Test.

5/180 – Maharaj’s 5/180 is now the most conceded 5-wicket haul in Test cricket for South Africa. The previous most runs conceded by a player during his 5-fer in Test cricket for South Africa was 5/174 by Athol Rowan in the 1951 Leeds Test.

348 – Maharaj bowled 348 deliveries during England’s first innings; the most by a South African bowler at home in 60 years. Hugh Tayfield was the last South African bowler to bowl 348+ balls in a Test inning. Tayfield bowled 49 8-ball overs in the 1958 Johannesburg Test against Australia.

Paul Harris’ 62 overs during West Indies’ first innings of the 2010 St Kitts Test was the last instance of a South African bowler with 58+ overs in a Test inning.

A quick-fire knock from Wood:

182.6 – Mark Wood scored a 23-ball 42 at a strike rate of 182.6 which is the best for any England player in a Test inning of 20+ balls. The previous highest was 176.19 by Stuart Broad during his 21-ball 37 against India at The Oval in 2014. Wood’s knock is the 9th fastest innings of 20+ balls in Test cricket (Where balls faced data is known).